Alcohol enters the body and is mainly metabolized in the liver, and long-term alcohol consumption can lead to the formation of alcoholic fatty liver. According to statistics: if you drink 80-120 grams of strong liquor per day for more than 10 years, more than 90% of people will develop fatty liver.
The toxicity of alcohol to liver cells is mainly through affecting the metabolism of the liver and causing excessive oxidation of lipid components on the surface of liver cell membranes, thus destroying the liver cell membranes. Further development can cause damage to both microtubules and mitochondria and other structures within the liver cells, swelling of the liver cells, necrosis, and impairment of the breakdown and metabolism of fatty acids, causing fatty deposits in the liver and the formation of a fatty liver. Alcohol can not only damage liver cells, but also cause damage to liver capillary bile ducts, or induce the production of autoantibodies, causing inflammation of hepatocytes and capillary bile ducts, and causing γ-glutamyl transpeptidase in blood to rise significantly. The damage of alcohol to the liver increases with the amount and duration of consumption, and develops gradually according to the trilogy of “alcoholic fatty liver → alcoholic hepatitis → alcoholic cirrhosis”. The more alcohol is consumed and the longer it is consumed, the more severe the steatosis of the liver becomes. Daily alcohol consumption is more harmful than intermittent alcohol consumption, and a large amount of alcohol consumption is more harmful than a small amount of alcohol consumption in one day. According to statistics, nearly 60% of chronic alcoholics develop fatty liver, and 20% to 30% will eventually develop cirrhosis of the liver.
Alcohol can accelerate the process of chronic viral hepatitis
Since alcohol can cause liver damage, the antiviral ability of liver cells is significantly weakened after drinking alcohol. The long-term accumulation of fat in a large number of liver cells impairs their blood supply, oxygen supply and their own metabolism, resulting in swelling, inflammatory infiltration and degenerative necrosis of a large number of liver cells. This makes the cells more susceptible to infection by the hepatitis virus, and the virus replicating within the liver cells more easily escapes from the cells and infects new liver cells. Therefore, the indicators of viral replication tend to be higher in hepatitis B-infected patients with a drinking habit. The high viral replication further aggravates the inflammation and necrosis of liver cells, which significantly weakens the ability of liver cells to metabolize alcohol and increases the toxicity of alcohol to the liver. This creates a vicious circle, which significantly accelerates the process of viral hepatitis and increases the risk of cirrhosis. Some statistics show that the difference in the proportion of men and women among hepatitis B virus carriers is not large, but there are significantly more men than women with chronic hepatitis. One of the reasons for this is related to the higher number of male alcohol drinkers. Alcohol is even more closely associated with the progression of hepatitis C. All the studies from the International Liver Conference held in Europe in 1999 showed that alcohol is a very important factor in the progression of hepatitis C disease. It not only promotes the proliferation of hepatitis C virus in human hepatocytes and significantly aggravates viremia, but also interferes with the antiviral activity of alpha interferon and reduces the efficacy of interferon.
In addition, alcohol can stimulate the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract. The gastrointestinal tract of patients with cirrhosis often has mucosal damage and varices due to portal hypertension, and upper gastrointestinal bleeding can easily occur if stimulated by alcohol; alcohol can also stimulate the central nervous system and induce hepatic encephalopathy in patients with cirrhosis.
Fatty liver is caused by an excessive accumulation of fat in the liver cells, and this change is the most common response of the liver to injury. People with unhealthy lifestyle habits, especially diet, are most likely to develop fatty liver. Then there are people with other diseases, such as diabetes, tuberculosis, pneumonia, chronic cholecystitis, bronchitis, pancreatitis, familial hyperlipidemia, and colitis, which can cause a fatty liver. In addition, taking steroid hormones, growth hormones, salicylic acid preparations, certain sedatives and other drugs, if the dosage is not appropriate, can induce fatty liver.
Fatty liver is not a disease, it doesn’t matter if you look at it or not
With the increase in the detection rate of fatty liver in the surrounding population, people have become dismissive of it and always think that fatty liver is at most a sub-healthy state, not a real disease and does not need to be treated at all. So is fatty liver a disease and should it be treated promptly?
At least 20% of non-alcoholic fatty liver is non-alcoholic steatohepatitis rather than simple fatty liver, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis is now clearly an important precursor to cryptogenic cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, and is a rare cause of liver failure. Therefore, even asymptomatic fatty liver found in health checkups should not be taken lightly and should be treated promptly at the hospital.
The treatment of mild to moderate fatty liver should start with diet control, not to eat too much, and not to overeat, but to eat 80% full at each meal. To reduce weight as the principle, pay attention to the reasonable combination of diet and nutrition, advocate high protein, low sugar, low fat diet. Take part in sports appropriately, and control the blood sugar level of diabetic patients, so that the fatty liver can gradually improve. The duration of medication for fatty liver is long. The course of treatment for mild fatty liver is about 1 month, while the course of treatment for moderate to severe fatty liver is often more than 3 months. Severe fatty liver must be accompanied by liver-protective drugs.
In the West, alcoholic liver disease is common, and according to the survey, 80%-90% of the causes of liver cirrhosis are caused by alcohol consumption. As the consumption of alcohol in China has increased, alcoholic liver disease has also grown. Therefore, the damage of alcohol to human health is also drawing more and more attention. So how much does alcohol actually affect the liver?
The liver is the only organ that metabolizes ethanol (alcohol). After you drink alcohol, ethanol is quickly absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract, and only a very small amount, about 10-20%, is excreted from the urine by the kidneys and by inhalation through the lungs. 90% or more of ethanol is metabolized in the liver. (1) Ethanol is catalyzed by the enzyme ethanol dehydrogenase in the hepatocyte plasma and eventually becomes carbon dioxide. (ii) Ethanol is oxidized to acetaldehyde by the ethanol oxidation system in the microsomes of hepatocytes. Acetaldehyde is a very active chemical that is toxic in many ways. The toxicity to the liver is manifested in the following ways: First, it decreases the oxidation of fatty acids by the liver, leading to swelling of liver cells and even collapse. Secondly, it has an interfering effect on amino acids. Causes peroxidative damage to hepatocyte membranes.
It can also lead to the formation of fatty liver due to the disturbance of fatty acid metabolism in the liver caused by acetaldehyde. In addition, acetaldehyde toxicity degenerates hepatocytes, causing humoral and cellular immunity production, resulting in immune manipulation of hepatocytes, leading to the development of alcoholic hepatitis.
Next, we describe how alcohol is transformed in the body and eventually cleared. First, some of the alcohol is converted to acetaldehyde by the enzyme ethanol dehydrogenase in the mucosa of the digestive tract. Most of the alcohol enters the liver and is converted to acetaldehyde by the liver’s ethanol dehydrogenase enzyme, which then relies on acetaldehyde dehydrogenase and P450 in the liver to oxidize acetaldehyde to non-toxic carbon dioxide and water for excretion from the body. Some people blush when they drink alcohol mainly because the body is rich in ethanol dehydrogenase can quickly oxidize ethanol to acetaldehyde, but the content of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase is not much, so acetaldehyde can only accumulate in the body first by P450 slowly oxidation out of the body little by little. Acetaldehyde is unfamiliar to everyone, right? It is harmful to the human body we all know more or less. Then I do not understand since we all know to do everything possible to reduce the concentration of acetaldehyde in the house, but why is it always “red is a protective color”, “red people can drink” as an excuse to let people with alcohol metabolism disorders accumulate acetaldehyde in the body by all means? Seriously speaking, this is murder! This is also proved by a 4-year follow-up survey conducted by Jiangsu Cancer Institute: drinking red may be a genetic mutation, and the risk of liver cancer from long-term alcoholism is much higher than normal people. Not only liver cancer, but also the risk of esophageal and colon cancer is much higher than that of people who do not blush. The lie that “people who are red in the face can drink” has been debunked, followed by the lie that “women can drink”, which is also an outright lie, of course some women are big drinkers, but this is a coincidence, the vast majority of women have much lower alcohol metabolizing enzymes than men.
Even people who are rich in both enzymes are not to be proud of. To use an analogy, these two enzymes are like sewage treatment plants, even if the plant’s processing efficiency is high, but there is a degree of saturation, once all their processing capacity is occupied, the sewage can only overflow from the sewer to erode the good uncontaminated land. Similarly, when the intake of alcohol exceeds the body’s processing capacity, it will inevitably cause harmful substances to accumulate in the body, posing a serious threat to human health – alcoholic liver, high blood cholesterol, fatty liver will follow.
At the same time, there are two other factors that contribute to liver damage. The banquet will certainly be a big fish and meat, these high protein, high fat mainly rely on the liver metabolism, so further increase the burden on the liver, that is, increased damage to the liver. This is the reason I reminded you to consume as much plant foods as possible, both to reduce the absorption of alcohol and to reduce the damage to the liver. China is a large country of hepatitis B, many hepatitis B patients do not pay attention to moderation, excessive alcohol consumption is more damage to the liver. And the compensatory capacity of our liver is very strong, many times only at the moment when it is completely unable to work suddenly told us, when our body has collapsed, has been irreparable!
Finally, here to give you a financial account, when you are young, use three years of health cost for a year of money, after the disease, use three years of money earned for a year of life. Nine to one ah! Not worth alcohol is the biggest accomplice of liver disease alcohol table more likely to contract hepatitis
Virus experts say that more than 95 percent of the ethanol ingested into the body when drinking alcohol is broken down in the liver and oxidized to acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde has a significant toxic effect on liver cells, can make the liver metabolism is impaired, leading to liver cell degeneration necrosis and fibrosis, in serious cases can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer. More than half of Oriental people lack an enzyme necessary for the decomposition of alcohol, so alcohol is more harmful to the liver, and is the biggest accomplice of liver disease. In the past 20 years, the number of patients with alcoholic liver disease has increased rapidly, and alcoholic liver disease mainly includes alcoholic hepatitis, alcoholic fatty liver and alcoholic cirrhosis. The statistics of the third central hospital of the city in the past two years also show that the incidence of alcoholic liver disease accounts for about 60% of the total number of new cirrhosis, of which 80% of patients are around 40 years old, and every year before and after the Spring Festival is the peak period for alcoholic liver disease consultation.
Usually, long-term excessive drinkers are exponentially more likely to develop hepatitis, fatty liver and cirrhosis, and liver cancer than normal people, while continuous excessive drinking in the short term is even more harmful. First of all, it rapidly and massively kills normal liver cells in a short period of time, which not only plays a catalytic role in the formation of chronic liver disease, but also may cause acute liver failure. In addition, people drink alcohol after the liver cells are significantly weakened antiviral capacity. At this time, if there is a patient with active liver disease at the drinking table, it makes the liver cells of a healthy person more susceptible to infection by various hepatitis viruses. In the case of a person with chronic liver disease, when drinking alcohol, it is also more convenient for the replicating virus in the liver cells to overflow from the cells and infect new liver cells, thus aggravating the condition or causing an acute attack of liver disease.
Strictly grasp the best mix of drinking alcohol to reduce alcohol injury to the liver
In the pre-holiday dinner interactions, drinking alcohol is often unavoidable. In this case, drinkers must act within their means. The human liver can metabolize about 1 gram of alcohol per kilogram of body weight per day. A person weighing 60 kg should limit the amount of alcohol allowed to be consumed to less than 60 grams per day. Those below 60 kg body weight should be reduced accordingly, and it is best to keep it at about 45 grams. The conversion into various finished wines should be: 50 grams of 60 degree white wine, 1 kilogram of beer and 250 ml of whiskey. Although red wine is good for health, it should not be consumed in excess, preferably 2 to 3 small glasses per day.
In addition, in order to minimize the damage of alcohol to the liver, we should pay attention to the variety of wine and reasonable accompaniments when drinking wine, and avoid drinking wine on an empty stomach and drinking without eating. Prefer red wine of the highest quality in terms of variety. The best accompaniment to drinking wine when pushing high protein, rich in methionine and choline and vitamin food, such as fresh vegetables, fresh fish, lean meat, beans, eggs, etc.. Do not use salted fish, sausages, bacon, because such smoked food contains a lot of pigment and nitrosamines, and alcohol reaction, more damage to the liver. In addition, you should drink a glass of milk before drinking, which can slow down the absorption of alcohol and reduce its harm to the liver.
Hepatitis B people should resolutely quit drinking alcohol and tobacco without separation to increase hepatotoxicity
Some people have to resolutely quit drinking no matter what the occasion is, otherwise the damage to the liver from alcohol will increase exponentially and may be life-threatening in serious cases. First of all, liver disease, gout, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes patients can not drink alcohol. Especially hepatitis B patients, excessive drinking once the acute attack of liver disease, even if recovery is very likely to have cirrhosis of the liver. Secondly, cold patients should not drink alcohol, because many cold medicines have antipyretic ingredients, once consumed liquor, strong wine, the metabolites produced by both will produce serious damage to the liver.
In addition, it is difficult to separate alcohol and tobacco in party places, experts say that this habit of drinking while smoking will be doubly damaging to health, both of which can make each other more toxic. The carcinogens in the smoke are inhaled into the mouth, nose, throat, trachea and lungs, deposited in the form of smoke tar on the surface of the organs, and alcohol is a good organic solvent for smoke tar, so that the smoke tar is fully dissolved, which is conducive to its passage through the mucous membrane and diffusion into the body. In this way, the toxic effects of smoking are enhanced a hundredfold. At the same time, tobacco toxicity can also make the liver can not adequately decompose and metabolize alcohol in a timely manner, which in turn can increase the hepatotoxicity of alcohol.
The antidote can not protect your liver
Now many people already know the damage of alcohol to the liver, but they would rather choose to take antidote, liver medicine to comfort themselves, rather than control the amount of alcohol consumption, which simply can not solve the problem at the root.” First of all, everyone does not have exactly the same tolerance to the breakdown of alcohol.
“We often feel that some people drink half a catty are not drunk, and some people how to drink are three cups down, in fact, is the difference caused by different physique.” Zhang Lili told reporters that although the medical profession believes that the normal liver can metabolize ethanol up to 130g per day, but everyone is different, some may be able to reach 180g, some may only have a few dozen grams. In the role of drugs, the liver metabolism capacity may be doubled, for example, originally can metabolize 120g of people become 200g, then in this range, the damage can indeed be reduced some. But if it is only 40g, even if it rises a little, to 80g, it is still easy to overload. What’s more, if you drink alcohol for years and years, even with the assistance of drugs, the liver is still overwhelmed. Second, the drugs themselves are often a burden to the liver.
“Most of the drugs we take are metabolized through the liver and kidneys, so taking a drug split is often adding to the liver’s mess.” For example, the same patients with liver disease, some of whom are asymptomatic and everything is normal, are not recommended to take liver-protective drugs, so as not to burden the liver and get sick instead. So whether you take an antidote or a liver-protective drug, you may unknowingly increase the burden on other aspects of the liver, which can lead to other problems and the liver suffers as well.
Finally, antidotes may not be fully effective.
Although they may make the enzymes more active and help break down alcohol, they require many nutrients. Many heavy drinkers actually have a nutritional imbalance, especially if they don’t eat a lot of food when drinking, or if they eat a lot of dishes that are big meat, they are prone to micronutrient deficiencies. “If there are not enough micronutrients, then the breakdown of alcohol equals insufficient power, even if the drug is effective, it is difficult to achieve the desired results.”
Sixth, smoking and drinking
British Heart Foundation researchers have analyzed 3,500 different chemicals in cigarettes, at least 43 of which are carcinogenic, and researchers have warned that smoking is linked to at least fourteen different cancers (including liver cancer). Smoking while drinking alcohol has an “additive” effect on cancer, as smokers who inhale a puff of smoke and drink a sip of alcohol at the same time will flush down the tar in their mouths and throats. Alcohol is an organic solvent that dissolves carcinogens and other harmful substances in cigarettes. When alcohol continuously stimulates the esophageal wall and causes mucosal congestion, the carcinogens in tobacco will more strongly stimulate the esophagus during swallowing, which will easily lead to esophageal cancer in the long run. Alcohol itself is also a poison to the liver, as ethanol and its metabolites can cause fatty deposits in liver cells, inflammation and necrosis of liver cells, and proliferation of fibrous connective tissue, which can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver.